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For babies between 14.5 and 15.5 months

This study will take place on a video call live with a researcher! Clicking on the “Schedule a time to participate” button will send you to an online calendar where you can select a date and time that works for you.

In this study, your baby will watch a ~5-minute animated video of simple geometric shapes interacting in a maze-like environment. In particular, one of these shapes will imitate the movement of only one of the other two shapes.

We will measure how long your baby looks at the different behaviors of these shapes.

From a young age, we are able to recognize that people who are part of the same social group tend to imitate one another's behaviors. However, acting in a similar way is not always socially motivated. For example, sometimes we'll act in the same way as another person in order to reach a goal.

This study investigates whether babies think that a character, represented by a simple, 2D animated shape, will prefer to approach another character whose movement it imitates over a third character whose movement it does not imitate. It further investigates whether infants' expectations change whether or not the imitating character's action allows it to reach a goal object. This project is part of a larger study which seeks to build a benchmark for understanding babies' social intuitions.

20 minutes

After you finish the Zoom session, we will email you a $10 (USD) Amazon gift card (redeemable only at Amazon.com) within approximately three business days. To be eligible for the gift card your child must be in the age range for this study and both you and your child must attend your Zoom appointment. We will send a gift card even if you do not finish the whole study or we are not able to use your baby's data. Each eligible baby will receive only one gift card for participating.